A jar of home-canned tomatoes triggers a viral wave of grief stories on Bluesky
Eric Bellmore's post about using his late wife's last unmade jar of tomatoes for his dad's soup draws thousands of shares and dozens of similar grief confessions.
What to know
- The post reached 1,470 score and 77 comments, drawing a large first-hand response rather than press coverage.
- Commenters overwhelmingly responded not with generic sympathy but with their own parallel stories of grief triggered by everyday leftover objects and food from deceased loved ones.
- A recurring theme is reluctance to use or discard the last physical traces (food, clothing, a jacket) left by someone who died.
Sharing a personal, similar story of grief ambushing them via an everyday object left by a deceased loved one.
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“I still have a quart of chicken soup my healthy mom made end of Dec 2024... I'm not sure I will ever eat it.”
erohealthcomms.com · Bluesky ↗
Offering comfort and condolences without recounting a personal story.
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“Sending comforting hugs 🫂, with a lot of love ❤️🩹.”
pinkprincess.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
Reframing the moment positively, as a good memory or sign rather than only loss.
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“Sorry for the rough times, but you got one more good memory from it.”
dariaphoebe.com · Bluesky ↗
Eric Bellmore Bluesky poster
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump postscomments
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Bellmore shares more details in replies to commenters
Responding to people who described their own reluctance to use a deceased loved one's last-made food, Bellmore added that he and his partner Liss still can't bring themselves to eat the last batch of fudge her late grandmother made, and later revealed his late wife's maiden name was Blue.
“Liss still has the last batch of fudge in the freezer her grandma made. Can't bring ourselves to eat it.”
— Eric Bellmore -
I’m sorry that grief snuck up on you and bit you in the ass. Sometimes the price of love is so much hurt. Extra tears in the soup for the salt it needed. Sending a bear hug.
2 more of the top 3 · 63 posts in this stretch
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I still have a quart of chicken soup my healthy mom made end of Dec 2024. And got sick early Feb 2025 and was gone 19 days later, dying in my arms. I’m not sure I will ever eat it.
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B
Totally get that. Liss still has the last batch of fudge in the freezer her grandma made. Can't bring ourselves to eat it.
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Commenters flood the post with their own grief stories
Over the following hours dozens of Bluesky users replied with parallel stories of grief triggered unexpectedly by ordinary items left behind by dead spouses, parents, and grandparents — untouched food, clothing, a rolling pin, a song.
“I still have a quart of chicken soup my healthy mom made end of Dec 2024... I'm not sure I will ever eat it.”
— erohealthcomms.com -
B
Sending you the câlins 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂 tonight, Eric
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Eric Bellmore posts about finding his late wife's last canned jar
Bellmore wrote that while making tomato soup and grilled cheese for his father, he used a jar of canned tomatoes that turned out to be the last one he and his late wife had canned before she died, calling the resulting soup fantastic "tears and all."
“It was the last jar my late wife and I never canned.”
— Eric Bellmore -
Lost my shit tonight. Dad asked for some tomato soup and grilled cheese, which was perfect on this dreary day. I make my own with canned tomatoes so I grabbed a jar from the back of the cupboard. It was the last jar my late wife and I never canned. It made fantastic soup, tears and all.
1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
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Sorry for the rough times, but you got one more good memory from it. 🩷
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What people are saying 19 voices from 1 site · best of 66 · verbatim
- Sep 20
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💯 It's weird, he's lost two wives to cancer (my mom and step mom) and I've lost one. I don't wish membership into this club on anyone.
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Those moments sneak up on you. I lost my husband over a year ago and I find myself crying over a song, a movie we loved, a book he never finished. I have a hard time grasping the finality of it. But, I'm doing okay.
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You never know when those moments will hit. 😢 I hope you get some joy in remembering good times.
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You may miss the soup, but dang you have some great memories.
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Many of our canning jars came from my dad. At one point, all of them-- we gathered them over 20 years ago when he passed. In the couple decades since, I'm sure at least half have been replaced from breaks or gifting. None the same, I often caress them as if they are him. I miss him so much.
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This so much! We focus so much on our loss, that we often can't celebrate their lives, and how wonderful they felt to be loved by so many. To live a life full of love and purpose is all any of us can hope for, no matter its length.
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This just hit really hard. I'm in tears. We have a shelf full of spaghetti sauce that my partner & I make. We're both alive & kicking, but if I lost her & ate that last jar... Just tears thinking of it! HUGS SO MUCH! I've spent the last couple months recovering from surgery. I'm feel very mortal.
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It's crazy how food takes us back to times, places and special people. Food = Memories
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I have similar moments myself at times. They are bittersweet. Mom's old rolling pin had a speck of crust stuck on it when I found it four years after she passed. I sat on the floor and had a good, long cry. I sure do miss her flaky pie crusts.
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One thing I thought when reading this. The jar of tomatoes is gone. But now you have the memory of eating the soup with your Dad which will go on and on...
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Grief is a sneaky bitch. I’m glad the tomatoes were amazing.
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Ah gods, honey….painful… Not at all the same thing but i remember bursting into tears when i took the last vitamin from a bottle my late husband had bought for me. The last of things …the physical things they touched..it’s so hard.
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Wow, I still have one of my grandpa's too! I wear it every hunting season. I've had it almost 40 years.
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I had an old wool winter jacket from my late grandpa, it never actually fit so after seeing it in the closet for 20 years I decided to donate it. I kept telling myself it was for a good cause but I still cried all the way home. 20 years! I needed to move on, I was ok
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Grief bombs sneak up on you at the most random times Hugs, Eric ❤️
- Sep 19
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I feel your pain brother. Everytime I hear "Bitter Sweet Symphony" I break down and start crying. It was one of my wife's favorite songs.
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Always is. Ironically, her maiden name was Blue!
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Hopefully the memory of that day and your wife made you smile ❤️
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You never know what will pop up to hit the memories. Big hug from Canada.